Paying into IWDC

Thinking about leaving?

If you leave service or opt-out, you may be entitled to:

A refund of your contributions, or

A transfer value, or

Your Personal Retirement Account may be frozen (‘deferred’)

Any refund of contributions by IWDC can only be made if you have not contributed through salary sacrifice. In addition, if you joined the IWDC after October 1, 2015, you can only get a full refund of contributions if you leave with less than 30 days’ service.

If you are auto-enrolled

To get a full refund of your contributions, you must complete an opt-out notice and return to your employer within one month of:

The date your employer sent the enrolment details to you, or

The date you became a member of the IWDC (whichever is the later)

If you have contributed through salary sacrifice, the contributions will be refunded to you by your employer rather than from IWDC.

If you opt-out or leave service after this period of time, you will be treated as though you left the IWDC as a contractually-enrolled member.

If you are contractually-enrolled

What happens to your Personal Retirement Account depends on how long you have been a member of the IWDC Section. The periods of membership below include any membership you may have transferred in from other occupational pension arrangements.

You can't receive a refund at all if you've transferred-in any benefits from a personal pension scheme or from an occupational schemeif the combined membership from the transferred-in benefits and your IWDC membership is more than two years.

If you joined before October 1, 2015 and have under three months’ membership in the IWDC section: You will get a refund of the current value of your own contributions (minus the income tax due on those contributions). If you have contributed through salary sacrifice, the contributions will be refunded to you by your employer rather than from IWDC. You will not receive a refund of your employer’s contributions.

You can’t have a refund if you have transferred-in benefits. Instead your Personal Retirement Account will be preserved and invested until you take your benefits.

If you joined before October 1, 2015 and have over three months but less than two years’ membership: You can choose to transfer your PersonalRetirement Account, including the value ofyour employer’s contributions, to anotherregistered pension scheme. If you do notchoose the transfer option, you will get a refund of the current value of your contributions (minus income tax due on those contributions). If you have contributed through salary sacrifice, the contributions will be refunded to you by your employer rather than from IWDC. You will not receive a refund of your employer’s contributions.

You can’t have a refund if you have transferred-in benefits. Instead your Personal Retirement Account will be preserved and invested until you take your benefits.

Over two years’ membership: If you have over two years’ membership ofthe IWDC Section, your Personal RetirementAccount (including the value of youremployer’s contributions) will remain investeduntil you take your benefits. A refund is notpossible.

As a preserved member, you will still get an Annual Benefit Statement so you can see how your Personal Retirement Account is invested. You can also make changes to your chosen investment funds or you can transfer your Personal Retirement Account to another scheme, as long as your new scheme allows.

Important: If you leave the IWDC, but keep your Personal Retirement Account invested, you must let us know about any change of address. You can update online or email dc@rpmi.co.uk.

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Railway Pension Investments Limited (RPMI Railpen) is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for some of its activities. The administration of occupational pension schemes is not a regulated activity. Full details about the extent of RPMI Railpen's authorisation and regulation by the Financial Conduct Authority are available from us on request

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